Shayna Waldman
The ATS Team is a production company well known for building challenging entertainment formats and shows, as it did for the hit television series, "American Ninja Warrior." "We still love building fun challenges. One of our favorite shows is of course 'Ninja', it's our lifeblood in the company, but we also love 'Top Dog Germany'," said Shayna Waldman, Development & Production Executive at The ATS Team to Señal News. "What we've done in Germany these last few years has been really exciting. It's an A&E format in America, and we're hopeful that it will continue to sell worldwide because we love to work on the developing challenges for the show that continue to hook viewers and create great TV moments. For this, the set design just keeps getting more fun and vibrant, so I can't wait for audiences to see what that looks like in the future and the ways we can adapt it across territories," she added.
The executive also commented that the ATS Team directly consults with producers worldwide. "We do a lot of consulting for other producers and production companies that are looking to set up a hub or determine in what part of the world they could shoot in and what that would look like," she explained. "We have been taking many consultations behind the scenes for returning shows that are looking to stay relevant or refresh, for example, seeking their next location abroad or considering creating a new hub. These conversations are fantastic for us because they allow us to continually grow our catalog and experience. So that's been really great for us to expand our reach and contacts," she said.
Another important goal for the company is working hard to sell paper formats in a really difficult climate. "Unfortunately, Paper formats aren't the hot seller at the moment because buyers are wanting proven formats, it's something that we're aware of," she admitted. Waldman explained that despite this, the company is still working on paper formats because "the industry is cyclical," which allows them to build partnerships with producers worldwide. "It also allows us to learn more and more about each territory as well as the format itself and the format business," she asserted. "We've had formats that across these past three or four years have shifted, grown, and transformed alongside not only the trends we're seeing, but also the mindset of the audience, the way that culturally we're all changing. This is, of course, reflected in what we're seeing on air, and it doesn't stop evolving, so we're constantly adapting those formats and learning," she expressed.
The ATS Team is also honing its craft on running line productions. "It's something that Europe is quite familiar with, but we are really trying to bring that type of partnership to other territories, the U.S. particularly," Waldman commented. "Originally, in the states, producers sold the format directly to a single network and produced the show, and then the network handled all distribution. In recent years, that's changed quite significantly, one reason being budget size reductions. Now everyone has to think creatively, producers are not only just selling it to one network, they're now having to bring in additional partners to get a format over the line. That places us in a unique position to be able to offer a line production service, as well as consulting for shows and paper formats, particularly in the U.S. but also in the U.K. We can take a lot of stress off, we can provide our experience from filming all over the world, as well as our trusted crew, trusted relationships, and trusted productions we've had real experience on to minimize risk. Combining these elements has been a thrilling adventure so far," she asserted.
EXPANDING TERRITORIES
The ATS Team is building and helping to set up production in Central America. "We're hoping to keep going further South. It takes time, but we have such an incredible crew, and we're growing in that region," Waldman said. "The biggest challenge for us is always the budget size, and I think where we can help producers in Latin America is if they want to film outside of the region or consider other territories. Of course, we have a wealth of experience in Latin America. But producers are unlikely to come to us if they're filming within their own country unless they are scaling up in size or production value. When they realize they can look elsewhere to shoot, for example, Asia, then I think we can come and add serious value," she explained.
The exec said that The ATS Team will be able to add significant value for producers who want to set up their own production hub within their territory or elsewhere. "More and more producers are looking to set up a hub and are curious about what that model looks like to work in other countries. We can help with that because we can leverage our experience and existing relationships across the globe. Latin America is absolutely a place we want to be, and somewhere we know we can add value from our decades of work and connections in the U.S. and across Europe," she said.
Waldman added that they're also hoping to increase their work with Spain over the next few years. "Spain's budgets are a little bit bigger, and they're a little bit closer to our U.K. production hub, so we have been kind of working more on those relationships because Spain's a really exciting territory right now—and it also helps that a lot of our team is Spanish! They also have a production hub in Portugal," she concluded.